MY7THLIFE.NET

And to think I’ve done enough of these memes. Hahaha. Tagged by Muaz.

State 15 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself. The people I tagged are then to follow my footsteps and write their own 15 weird things/habits and little known facts. No tagging me back.

1. I don’t like the sound of heavy rain on the rooftop. I also hate it when there’s thunder and lightning, especially at night, because that might cause a blackout at my house. I do love the smell of rain on grass during the day, though.
2. Whenever I’m spooked before I go to bed, I turn on the radio so I don’t sleep in complete silence. If annoying person is on radio, then turn on CD player, or plug in the iPod onto the stereo. Haa.
3. I am not depressed, but I love listening to sad, sappy, love songs, especially Indonesian ones. The boyfriend hates this, but I’m not sure I can stop listening to them. I simply think that Indonesian (sad) love songs are great, because they really put their words to good use!
4. I am addicted to the Internet, it’s not even funny. It’s weird how I fit in the rest of my life in between all the surfing and blog-hopping!
5. I love getting nifty (read: weird) things, something like Magic Instant Hair Bun would be a perfect example.
6. Every time Hotel California (by the Eagles) comes on, I switch it off. The song freaks me out.
7. Heavily dependent on my other half, I get cranky when I don’t hear his voice for long periods of time.
8. I sing along to songs when I’m driving, no matter who’s in the car. I especially do it at night because the probability of other drivers seeing me singing is dim (no pun intended.) I don’t do it when people keep me busy with a conversation, of course. If only my mouth can multitask. Ha.
9. I like being curvy, but I do not like the unwanted and unnecessary ‘bumps’. LOL.
10. I think blogging is now really overrated, but I still do it because I don’t know how to stop.
11. My dad taught me that if there’s an itch caused by ‘ulat bulu‘, it’s treatable with hot, melted candle wax. I don’t know if it’s true, but I love how it works every time!
12. I might have mild OCD. I can’t start my day without certain rituals, and I like doing things in a certain pattern that makes sense in my mind. I am, however, not a perfectionist.
13. I prefer the weather cold than warm. This might be the result of living in Brunei for the whole of my life.
14. One of the talents that I wish I had: Playing a musical instrument. I can’t even strum a guitar properly!
15. I love making people laugh. But maybe that isn’t so much little-known-fact, is it?

With that over, let’s go back to the normal routine of updating you with whatever amuses me in life. Haha.

I went for my usual step aerobics session today, and Atul and Nonnie joined me! It was fun having them with me, actually. Makes everything less tiring. Though I don’t think Atul wants to join another session. Heehee. (Join lagi baaaahh! Siuk jua!)

Been looking up some funny things on the Internet to cheer myself up.

Airbag!

So Roxie tagged me with the 7 random things about myself meme. Who would’ve thought that I had more random things to share? Haha. (Hopefully these are more random than the previous ones.)

1. I am flat-footed, thus can’t walk long distances without taking breaks. My ‘extra’ weight does not help at all.
2. I read the blogs of people I don’t like.
3. I like to play with glue.
4. Candid pictures are the bane of my existence, unless I look good in them. (HAHA.)
5. When I stumble upon catchy blog names, I curse and wonder why I didn’t think of them in the first place.
6. I can be really ignorant about the world around me, especially politics, but somehow, I’m rooting for Barack Obama.
7. I am afraid of the dark.

I’ve done these things twice already, so I won’t be tagging anyone.

Oh, my. I have forgotten the second season premiere of Amazing Race: Asia. I haven’t been catching much of TV lately. It’s either I’m trying to fit everything into my life, or I’m trying to fit everything into what I have left of my life. I think I have to slow down.

I even broke my glasses early this morning. Yes, another early morning for me. Sigh. So I broke my glasses of (possibly) three years. It has been dying for a week now. This morning, it breathed its last breath. Hahaha. I’m such an idiot. I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I broke it. The right temple piece fell off as I forgot to take off my glasses when I went back to sleep. And I just stared at it, with my mouth gaping open.

Now I’m using contacts at home or I won’t feel comfortable, not being able to see properly. It’s annoying, wearing contacts at home. This means I have to buy a new pair of glasses by Sunday payday then. Aww. I was planning on saving some money this month.

Anyway, I owe someone a little something called ‘Seven Random Facts/Travel/Life Experiences During Yesteryears’. I like to call it, The Random Seven! (Boo.)

Okay, so I actually gave this a lot of thought. I even wrote two random facts on a piece of paper while I was taking a break at work! Haha.

1. There was a point in my life where I wished my name was something like a friend of mine because it looks better when written in cursive. True story.
2. I have the ugliest mugshot in the history of Brunei SmartCards or I.C.’s.
3. I have a love/hate relationship with traveling. Hate the actual traveling, love being in another country for holidays.
4. When I walk down a hall full of people, you have to call out to me for me to spot you and say hi, because I am not temeng, but I just don’t look around when I walk. LOL. The same goes with driving, if someone I know is in another vehicle, I will not spot them unless I have stopped at a traffic light. Even then, they would have to try hard to get my attention, especially if I’m not alone. I tend to be really immersed in conversation, or just singing along with anyone in the car to whatever’s playing on the car stereo. Hehe.
5. That said, I get scared when strangers stare at me.
6. That said, I am intimidated by figures of authority.
7. I tell my mom that I like the number 921 because 9 is my birth day and 21 is my favourite odd number, when 21 is actually the boyfriend’s birth day. Yep, my mom has no idea.

Only seven? Okay, I think I would like to continue with 8, 9, and 10. Haha, kidding.

I’m off for now. I might just have an early night tonight.

Thank you for the congratulatory messages, everyone! (My mom, being the uri ((roughly, a worrywart)) in this family, said that I shouldn’t be telling people just yet because I haven’t even signed anything. But I was too happy not to share the good news. And it was too late anyway, so I’m not telling her that I posted the good news online. Hehe.)

I bought four DVDs tonight, three of them thrillers. Turistas, Hostel 2, The Invisible, and Transformers. I’m going to watch them after sahur.

Then I’m going for a haircut and facial at 2PM tomorrow, if the salon is open. (The salon I’m talking about is the one I’ve gone to for over 8 years now.)

So looking forward to doing all these things before I start working. Hee.

Anyway! I’ve been tagged! (Usually it takes weeks before someone tags me with these memes. LOL.)

Name, age and occupation.
Tina, 22, and part-time radio DJ. Can I throw in ‘analyst’?

Which schools did you go to - since kindergarten up till your current/last educational institution?
Kindergarten 1: Nusa Laila Puteri school. Kindergarten 2 until primary school: PGGMB ((Persekutuan Guru-Guru Melayu Brunei)) School Telepok (moved to Sungai Akar in 1996, my final year.) Secondary school: STPRI ((Sekolah Tinggi Perempuan Raja Isteri)). Sixth form: Maktab Duli PMAMB ((Maktab Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah)). Tertiary school: ITB ((Institut Teknologi Brunei)).

Favourite subjects [throughout the span of your education, e.g. you can include what you enjoyed in high school, college, AND university]. Why?
I had a knack for:

• English Language, I don’t know why, but I do. I think it’s fun.
• Mathematics, because I thoroughly enjoy doing equations and solving problems. This passion, however, faded in upper and sixth form.
• Biology.. loved the lessons, hated the exams. Every time I come out of a Biology lesson, I literally feel like I know more about the world.
• Java programming, because my lecturer was perfect and I loved using my logic to figure things and problems out.
• Interface Design Principles, because I was doing something I enjoy, and consider a past time.

Favourite teachers? Why?
I have a LOT! Let me start chronologically. Teachers and lecturers, however, are in no particular order. (You might want to skip this question, I have a feeling it’ll get really long.)

Mrs. Marsh, English teacher, PGGMB. She is the best. I love her. My whole family loves her. When my dad was alive, and he was picking up my sister, Mrs. Marsh would ask about me, and how I was doing. She still remembers how I look like, and, she still calls me “Tina Turner”. And I don’t even mind.

Cikgu Roseliza, Mathematics teacher, STPRI. I hope I get her name right, because I have a feeling I’ve gotten it wrong. But I loved her. She doesn’t rely on textbooks, she makes her own and photocopies them for her students. Every chapter had different covers on them. She taught me up until form 3.

Miss Tan, Biology teacher. She is very witty, and she’s the one who realized that there’s a ‘rat’ in my name. (Full name, mind.)

In Maktab Duli PMAMB, all my teachers who taught all the four subjects I had taken up, Mr. Ian Franklin a.k.a. Md. Yusuf (Business Studies), Miss Salwa (General Paper), Cikgu Munah (Biology), and Cikgu Masni (Mathematics) were my favourites. Why? They treated me like I was their friend, and they didn’t talk down to me. I love that in a teacher.

Dr. Sophiana, Advanced Programming lecturer, ITB. She doesn’t stop until I understand how such a code works.. she is like a miracle worker. She interacts well with us, the students. She relates real-life situations with Java! I know right!

Sir Idham, Interface Design Principles lecturer, ITB. His lessons are always fun and interactive. It doesn’t get too static. He has a good sense of humour, and is a good sport.

Ms. Wida, Introduction to Computer Communications lecturer, ITB. She is fun to talk to, and I can talk to her about anything under the sun. Very friendly, and practices the open door concept. Plus, she’s Osh’s sister!

Sir Irwan, Systems Analysis & Design, ITB. He knows his stuff! He’s just like Dr. Sophiana, he doesn’t stop explaining until you get it right in your head.

Well, basically all my lecturers during my years in ITB were my favourites. They were cool in their own way. And some of them read my blog too.

What qualities do you feel should a good teacher have?
I believe that a good teacher should earn respect instead of demanding it, easy to talk to, patient, and never, ever talk down to their students.

What are/were the impacts teachers have/had on you?
Here are the bad ones: I remember when I was in lower form, a particular Commerce teacher had said to my face that I will never pass my Commerce paper in my PMB. A Chemistry teacher in upper form had called me a ‘loser’, and a ‘liar’ to my face, and in front of my other classmates. (These, by the way, are what good teachers should not do!) I ended up hating Commerce (and anything business-related) and Chemistry. I do not wholly blame my insecurity based on these experiences, but they are hugely a part of it.

Also, based on these experiences, I am determined not to become an educator because I am impatient and I might hurt my students the way one or two from my past did.

The good ones, however, was when I crawled out of my high school life, my lecturers took me under their wings and sing praises.. They are tiny ones, like when you tell others about it, they may seem like they don’t matter. But, as always, it is the littlest things. This made me more confident as a person, and they made me feel like I can do anything, as long as you have the will to do it.

I actually had a plan to become a lecturer, if everything else doesn’t work out for me. Yes, I am still scared I might not be a good teacher.

There was also this one time where Mr. Franklin, Business Studies tutor in MD, said that, “Why on earth do you want to have a job which you dread to wake up to in the morning?” He inspired me to do what I want after MD. Technically, he’s saying “follow your heart”, but in a cooler way.

Describe the most memorable moment/s you’ve shared with a teacher/teachers?
This. Enough said.

Have you ever thought of becoming a teacher? Yes or no? Elaborate on your answer.
Yes and no. Please refer to the previous question on impacts/effects teachers have on me.

If you’re working, are you still in contact with any of your teachers? Why/why not?
With some of them, yes. And these ’some’ are all lecturers from ITB. I told you they were cool. I might be seeing them for a sungkai gathering with the rest of the CIS20 gang, but we’ll see.

I would really love to read what these five have to say:

1. Shasha
2. F
3. Faz
4. Ani
5. War